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Help with board/website
I am trying to get more regulars on my board. While the point of the site is to be WR, I'd like there to be some NWR/WR discussion happening, too. It's a local board (and perhaps that's just the nature of local boards) and aside from "What about this vendor" or "where to buy a gown" or things like that, we don't have very many posters.
We tried the Knottie Night Virtual GTG and it face-planted.
What do you ladies do on your boards to generate regulars?
Do you have daily themes (Manic Mondays, Show & Tell Tuesday, etc.)? If so, what are some ideas that you use? Is it consistent or do you change the theme/topic week-to-week?
Also, we have a local knottie website, but I don't have anything other than TK ID, Name (first only), anniversary/wedding date, and their blog/planning website link. What have you seen that you liked on other websites? Right now, I feel like the website is a little worthless because it doesn't really tell you anything. However, I like the concept and would like to keep it. Any ideas?
TIA! I'm so glad I found the link to this board again; I didn't know what to do once TK site changed and it wasn't in the drop down any more! ;-)
Re: Help with board/website
I do Monday Madness, Tuesdays Tips, WTF Wednesday, Hump Day Letter Confessions, Tell it All Thursday, What Are You Doing this Weekend (WR and NWR) on Fridays...then our Virtual Knottie Night is on Sunday.
We also have a Knottie of the Day list where each day (M-Th) one Knottie is featured and they answer a series of questions and then it is opened up to the rest of the Knotties to ask questions.
Come take a look at the boards and you can possibly get some ideas and see what I do each week.
http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_african-american-weddings
When I first became MOD for AAW, I posed a question on what the ladies wanted to see, etc and kind of put everything together based on that.
HTH!
Wedding Planning Blog (Updated 10/18/10)
We do knottie of the week of my local board (N. Florida). I asked knotties to sign up and kept a list of them according to their wedding date. Each week, I pick a different knottie and give them a list of questions to answer. Then other knotties can ask that knottie questions as well. It goes over pretty well.
A couple easy ways to get the board engaged (so to speak!).
I post a date list and keep it as a draft in my inbox. Each time I post it, I ask for people to post if they want to be included, then I just update the date list draft in my inbox. It's a really easy way for people to come out of their shells and tell us one simple thing - their wedding date. Then, I use that date in our board's Welcome stickie to congratulate this month's brides.
Another idea is to post a Newbies/Lurkers poll. Something super simple, like names, wedding date, how long they've been lurking, and a fun fact about them.
I also encourage new Knotties to post an intro about themselves. If they come on for the first time and ask for a vendor rec, I give them my advice then also ask them if they'd be open to posting an intro because we love to know more about our Knotties.
A fun idea I did last month was asking the board to make up their new Knot bio - Pimp Your Bio contest. Everyone had until X date to submit their bio to the thread, then I posted a poll for everyone to vote on a winner. Knot Annie sent them a "prize package" - it was a fun little game to get people involved in the website.
Another idea is "Ask me anything." This can be silly or just WR (or deeply personal!), but it's fun. You could start it yourself by saying, "Who wants to play Ask Me Anything? I'll start - ask away!" Then if others feel compelled to put themselves out there, they will.
PIP polls are also a fun way to get people posting and are a whole lot easier now on the new boards! I did one on our Virtual Knotties night the first week of wedding disasters/funny wedding pics. Lots of crazy pics from http://www.wedinator.com came out of the woodwork. I also did a PIP poll on centerpieces. Bouquets would also be fun.
One other thing my board does is weekly signature challenges. It sort of brings everyone together in a weird way I guess. A Knottie on my board posts a new topic every week - this week is wedding shoes. It can alternate between WR and NWR (first pic of you and FI, baby pics, pic of your XYZ).
In the end, it's about creating "community" - aka making everyone feel welcome and have something to post about in the first place - and also about engaging on the site and having some sort of tie/reason to come back. Getting involved in a date list (as mundane as it sounds) or filling out their bio is an investment for them to come back to TK.
I'll add more if I think of anything else - HTH.
Our big girl, Cora, and our sneaky kitty, Roxy